Certain UK Conservatives Seek to 'Sabotage' Brexit Deal - Ex-SNP Official

The ruling body of the Labour party's grassroots group Momentum is expected to consider a petition, signed by more than 4,000 members, calling for the group to hold a referendum on the final Brexit deal.

Support for the idea has been growing among Labour members — and backing from an influential group like Momentum would increase pressure on the party leadership. Sputnik spoke to the former deputy leader of the Scottish Independence Party, Jim Sillars, about what effect this will have on the final Brexit deal.

Sputnik: The Labour party group Momentum is expected to consider a petition calling for a second referendum on the final Brexit deal. How significant is this revelation?

Jim Sillars: They are part of a broader movement than just Momentum and people within the Labour party to reverse the decision of the EU referendum that told us to leave the European Union.

There is a concerted effort to have a second referendum, which would be absolutely normal given the track record of the EU.

When they get a decision at Brussels that they don’t like they then later on they make people have a second vote to produce a vote they do like. It happened in Ireland and when the European Constitution was rejected by the citizens of The Netherlands and France in a referendum, all they did was tinker around with it and called it The Lisbon Treaty which didn’t require a referendum.

There is nothing new in this at all. It’s an effort being made by Momentum in concert with other people to prevent us from leaving the EU. That’s all it is.

Sputnik: How successful will these efforts be and is it the right move from the grassroots Labour movements? 

Jim Sillars: I see this in the wider context than just the Labour party. We are going to have a big effort made, well-funded, demanding a second referendum which of course they have entitled ‘The People’s Vote’; as if the first referendum wasn’t a vote of the people as well. Will they be successful? I don’t know.

There are people inside the Conservative Government who are trying to sabotage the decision to leave. Ever since the decision was taken to leave, people like Philip Hammond and others, have been determined to subvert the decision of the people – and this will go on for some time. Part of the problem we have on the Leave side, is that the negotiations are being conducted by one of the most incompetent people ever to sit in Number 10 Downing Street as Prime Minister.

How it’s going to pan out? I don’t know. I have no idea what the dynamics are actually going to deliver but if they succeed in us leaving the EU then the effect upon the idea of democracy in Britain will be quite profound.

Sputnik: What effect if any will this drive have on the final Brexit deal?

Jim Sillars: What Hammond, Britain’s Finance Minister, really wants is an awful deal that he can argue is very different what the leave people said in 2016 and therefore the people will have to decide if they want this bad deal or remain in Europe.

It’s all part and parcel of the effort they’re making to subvert the decision of 2016.

Views and opinions expressed in this article are those of Jim Sillars and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.